Argument-0009: Retention at Rank II

Member details

• Matrix username: @cisco:parity.io
• Polkadot address: 129EYiTbv2J4LkYqRNssUfMuxNLYN8TW2LgfG1Gqyj8wCcs7
• Current rank: 2
• Date of initial induction: 2024/05/31
• Date of last report: 2026/05/25
• Area(s) of Expertise/Interest: XCM, Bridges, Smart Contracts, JAM, Storage

Reporting period

• Start date: 2026/05/25
• End date: 2026/08/25

Argument

This period I focused on Web3 Storage (Capacity): building an example application end-to-end to showcase and validate it, researching the provider node's database layer and hardening its CI. At the same time, I continued improving Bulletin Chain and HOP, and did XCM hardening work across the SDK and the fellowship runtimes.

A big bulk of my time went to the example Photos dapp[1], an example application that showcases how a normal app uses Web3 Storage. It's a simple app supporting uploads, albums with a computed root anchor, downloads, thumbnails and image editing. This example app was my first real foray into the project and helped build my knowledge and intuition around it.

I then moved on to improve the storage in the provider node. I benchmarked database options and wrote up results to drive a decision[2]. I also audited all GitHub Actions workflows with zizmor and added a CI gate so it doesn't regress[3].

On Bulletin Chain, I continued hardening HOP: Submit signature v2 now binds the recipient list and the genesis hash to the signature[4].

On the XCM side, I improved the XCM benchmarks in the SDK and regenerated weights across all runtimes, making sure weight accounting reflects reality[5]. I removed expensive aliasers from the unpaid execution barrier, both in the SDK[6] and in the fellowship runtimes[7], since there is no valid use-case for it.

Beyond authoring, I reviewed extensively across polkadot-sdk, polkadot-bulletin-chain, web3-storage and the fellowship runtimes.

As a member of JamBrains, I took part in the Milestone 1 interview for our JAM client, GrayMatter, which we passed[8]. Started work on Milestone 2.

On the education side, I hosted a meetup in Montevideo to talk about the Polkadot Products Devnet[9]. I plan to keep doing more to foster the local community.

Voting record